Revisiting San Diego Zoo

By alantvuong on June 3, 2023

My friend and I only had 1 full day in San Diego back in March, so we thought it would be a great idea to visit the San Diego Zoo. I have already gone back in May 2014, but my friend never has been so visiting this most popular zoo in the USA is a must. We also wanted to check out the surrounding Balboa Park too.

Getting There

Staying at Motel 6 San Diego Circle, we always have a taxi waiting around in our parking lot. We were going to see if we could call for an accessible taxi but it was really difficult to get one in the city so we just took whatever taxi that was there. It was only about a 10 minute drive to the zoo so it wasn’t too bad. Admission to the San Diego Zoo was $71 USD and was glad they still offer free admission to caregivers of wheelchair guests.

got a taxi that was already at our motel

About San Diego Zoo

The San Diego Zoo is located in Balboa Park and has over 4000 animals of more than 650 species on 100 acres of the park. It is the most visited zoo in the United States with over 4 million visitors annually. There are 9 main exhibits: Lost Forest, Northern Frontier, Asian Passage, Elephant Odyssey, Urban Jungle, Outback, Africa Rocks, Reptile Walk and Wildlife Explorers Basecamp.

at the entrance, the zoo offers free caregiver companion ticket

Exhibits

the map

After entering, we decided to head to the Lost Forest exhibit area to see monkeys, gorillas, and a few of the giant aviaries. It was easy to wheel around for most of the zoo but there are some areas that really was steep which we avoided and went another way. The aviaries required my friend to wheel me in a double set of doors that wasn’t too difficult to do.

great accessible pathway inside one of the aviaries

We then went to the nearest food area to get lunch and saw Hua Mei Cafe which was right in between Lost Forest and Asian Passage. I didn’t want a huge lunch so I ordered the 2 piece chicken strips kids meal for $9.79 that also included a milk, crackers, apple sauce, collectible cup and bag and added fries for $1. This was a perfect size meal for me with a great price that tasted really good.

$9.79 plus $1 for fries, kids meal: 2 chicken tenders, milk, crackers, apple sauce, collector’s cup and bag at Hua Mei Cafe

We continued exploring Asian Passage seeing some red pandas, leopards before heading towards Northern Frontier to see zebras, polar bears, cranes and other birds. Elephant Odyssey was next and it was great to see such a large exhibit dedicated to just elephants. The enclosure was huge and the elephants seemed to enjoy walking around and playing with the spray fountain. There were camels and capybaras in this area too.

zebras at Northern Frontier

We then went to Outback and saw some koalas and the Tasmanian devil. It then connects us to Urban Jungle, where we saw giraffes, flamingos, hippos and more. At Africa Rocks, we saw baboons, lemurs and a cool waterfalls area. We then went to the last 2 exhibits: Reptile Walk and Wildlife Explorers Basecamp. There were alligators, snakes, insects, turtles and lizards.

reindeer at Northern Frontier

Accessibility

baboon at Africa Rocks

Accessibility has improved since my last visit in 2014, with the opening of the Canopy Bridge which is also known as Bashor Bridge. It is elevated 70 feet in the air and spans 450 feet between Elephant Odyssey on the west and the Treetops area near Gorilla Tropics.

elephants at Elephant Odyssey

I remember back in 2014 how difficult it was for my friend to push my wheelchair on the steep hilly ramp to get from the one area to the next. This new bridge equipped with elevators made it so much easier and faster for us. The rest of the zoo was pretty easy to get around.

the new Bashor bridge connected Elephant Odyssey on the west and the Treetops area near Gorilla Tropics, made it so much easier and faster to get between the 2 areas

I still did not get a chance to go on the accessible bus tour around the zoo. Even with renovations, the Skyfari still requires a person to transfer to the gondola seat. I did not ride it this year since I was only with one person and it would not be safe to be up in the air for the 20 minute ride across the zoo.

spent over 5.5 hours at this massive zoo

Balboa Park

Spanish Village

Balboa Park is a 1200 acre historic urban cultural park that has a lot of open spaces, gardens and walking paths. The park contains the San Diego Zoo along with several museums, theaters, gift shops and restaurants. The park is free to enter and look around. We only explored the area for about an hour as we were getting hungry and wanted to eat.

San Diego Museum of Art

Some of the restaurants nearby were either closed or had long waits to get seated so we ate at an outside food place called Lady Carolyn’s Pub. It was connected to the Old Globe Theater and served items like soups, salads and sandwiches. I just loved the lobster bisque that they served as it was one of the best I have ever had.

the lobster bisque from Lady Carolyn’s Pub was so amazing

Final Thoughts

I was so glad that I got to revisit the San Diego Zoo as it is a massive and one of the best zoos in the world. We managed to spend over 5.5 hours exploring the animals which didn’t even include any of the animal shows or talks.

another pic from the zoo

The accessibility has greatly improved since my last visit with the new Bashor bridge connecting 2 large areas so we didn’t have to go uphill a steep ramp. Tickets to the zoo are quite expensive but they do offer free admission to caregivers to paying disabled persons.